Shoe-polishes



c. n. wmms. SHOE PQLISHEH. APPLICATION man JULY 6,1918.-

1,308,462, Patented July 1, 1919.

612 Mai/ ins 13 Q. l 1 M abtomwq THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPI! co., WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT ormon.

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To all whom it may concern: a

Be it known that I, CHARLES D. WAT- KINS, an insurance surveyor, citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful 1mprovements in Shoe-Polishers, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to shoe polishers, and particularly that class of shoe polishers wherein there is provided a supporting plate or strip carrying a polishing felt and a handle connected at its ends to the strip.

The general object of this inventionis to provide a very simple and cheaply con structed shoe polisher ofthis character, having very few parts, and consisting of -a felt supporting strip, a handle strip, and means whereby they may be expanded with relation to each other or allowed to foldflat against each other, to thus provide an article which may be readily packed in small comass.

p A further object is to provide very simple means for holding the handle and supported strip in their expanded relation.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of my improved shoe polisher or cleaner; Fig. 2 is a topplan view of the device; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section showing the device collapsed;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line.

4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring to these figures, 1O designates the supporting strip which may be of thin wood or metal. Preferably this supporting strip will be made of a strip of wood about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness and which, therefore, has a considerable degree of resilience. Disposed over the strip 10 is a handle strip 11 which is also preferably made of wood, the middle portion of this strip being relatively narrower than the ends so as to provide a good grip. The extremities of the strip 11 are connected to the extremities of the strip 10 in any suitable manner as forinstance by the U-shaped connecting strips 12, which are held to the wooden strips 10 and 11 by means of staples 13 or Specification of Letters Patent.

necting members 12 as in some cases thin leather or other like material will be used fastened to the wooden strips by glue.

Glued or otherwise attached to the under material It which is preferably of rela- Patented July 1, 1919. Application filed July 6, 1918. Serial No. 243,528. i i i face of the strip 10 is a layer of polishing tively thick felt. The ends of this layer or i strip of polishing material are carried over upon the extremities of the handle strip 11 and glued or otherwise attached thereto.

It will be obvious now that when the strips 10 and 11 areforced apart that the striplO will be curved reversely to the strip i 11 and that acurved polishing surface will thereby be provided. For the purpose of hOlClIIIg the strips 10 and 11 in their reversely curved or expanded positions, 1

mount upon one of the strips, and preferably the strip 10, the brace plates 15, which may be made of tin or other suitable mate rial oflike nature and which, if thin, are slightly corrugated so as to g ve thenr strength. These braces 15 at thelr ends con nected to the strips 10 or 11 are angularly bentas at 16, and these braces are opera tivelyhinged to the member 10 by means of staples 17. When the polisher is intended to be packed away, the brace plates 15 are turned down to the position shown in Fig. 3, and the resilience of the wooden strips 10 and 11 will cause them to take a position parallel and closely adjacent each other.

WVhen it is desired to use the polisher, however, the plates 15 are turned to the position shown in Fig. 1, and will engage the under face of the strip 11 so that the strip 11 will be held in spaced relation to the strip 10, thereby forming a handle. The use of the polisher is obvious.

As before remarked, I do not wish to be limited to the particular character of the material forming the various parts of this device. By making the device very simple and correspondingly cheap, it may be read ily used as an advertising article, the advertisement being printed or otherwise applied to the outer surface of the handle member'll. This is another reason for attaching the brace plates 15 to the strip 10 as thereby the handle surface is left entirely unbroken for the application of the advertisement thereto.

While I have illustrated felt 14 as being applied to the surface of the member 10, I wish it understood that I do not want to be limited to the use of a polishing material,

normally urged by their resilience into parallel relation, a strip of rubbing material attachedto the outer face of one of the strips, the opposite strip constituting a. handle, and means for holding said strips expanded including members hingedly connected to one of the strips on each side of the middle of the strip to which the members are attached and shiftablle from a position parallel to said strip into a position at right angles thereto and against the inner face of the opposite strip.

"2. A polisher of the character described, comprising two resilient strips operatively connected to each other at their ends and normally urged by their resilience into parallelrelation, a strip of rubbing material attached to the outer face of one of the strips, the opposite strip constituting a handle, an'dmeans for holding said strips expanded including two, members hingedly connected to the strip carrying the polishing fabric on each, side of the middle of the strip and normally lying in substantially 1 parallel relation to the loWer strip but shiftable into a position at right angles to the strips and thereby expand the strips away from each other, said members being angul-arly bent at their hinged ends.

3QA polisher of the character described comprising two parallel strips of somewhat resilient material, hinged to each other at their extremities, a strip of rubbing material attached to the outer face of one of the strips, the opposite strip being reduced in width at its middle portion to form a handle,

and means for holding said strips expanded comprising metallic members, angularly bent at their lower edges and hingcdily connected to one of said strips at said angular edges and shiftable from a position parallel to the strips into a position at right angles thereto, to thereby separate the middle portions of the strips, said members, beingdisposed one on each side of the middle of the strips.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES D. WATKINS.

Witnesses:

T. M. ABBOTT, O. G. Run).

Copies of this patent may be ubtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissiener of I'a,tents. Washington, I). G. 

